Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Reports

[Lenny40]

Thanks Darin

Looking forward to some time on the ice!!!

Lenny

[wingnut38]

fished all day monday. morning was slow. moved to a small mid lake hump in the afternoon and picked a few perch and eyes before two. at about 5 pm it was on for the eyes. 4 of us kept 12 from 14-16.5" threw back about 20 that were 10-12" and 5 over 17. the biggest was 21. you could look down the hole in the portable and see them swimming around. it was cool. at one point it looked like a bunch of sharks down there. there was walleyes everywhere. fun trip for me and the kids.

[gregg52]

just curious wingnut was it a big hump or a small

was it one you have fished before or did you just find it

i just happen on one last week and it was loaded with big fish

most over 22 i'm thinkin it might me a good tourment hump for hat one over 26

but you never know hump can produce good then nothing

[wingnut38]

it was a small hump i had never fished before. i was trying to get to another spot when i came across this spot with the gps. looked like no one had fished it so i gave it a try. punched her in for next year.

[gregg52]

ya its amazing how many there are

some better than others and they seem to kinda school by size somewhat

[Lenny40]

Fished on Sat on the east side and the perch were slow. Had to work for what I caught. Hoped to catch a couple of walleyes at sunset and didn't even have any luck with that. Talked to a warden and he said that most people he talked to on Sat said it was slow to. Oh well just fun to get out

[brady_d]

Was up there out of HighBanks from Thursday through Sunday. Me, my dad, and my girlfriend's brother made the trip. It was his first time ever fishing and as it usually goes the rookie caught the most fish!! But we ended up with 10 eyes (14-16.5"), 6 pike (19-24"), and 46 perch (9-11") for the weekend. About 95% of our fish were caught between 6-8am or 4-7 pm. Also caught about 10 eyes that were too big to keep and many smaller eyes and perch.

[friendly]

anyone fishing, any recent reports?

[rapman]

brady this is my first time replying iwas just wondering if you fish out by zoomers bar or some where else out from high banks i am going up on the 5th to the 8th of march we were going to start at zoomers with the wheel house if i may ask what did you catch the fish on if any one else has a litle info on fishing out of high banks it would be helpful thanks

[brady_d]

We were in the area that is called "The big hump" on our map. When they showed up for us they would bite whatever we had down there. My best luck was jigging a pimple as I could get it back down the fastest when they were there.

[AllThumbs]

I was with a group that fished Winnie Thurs, Fri, and Sat (feb 26-28) for our annual winnie trip.

We fished rebel with some success. not great, but ok. We fished the north side of zoomers - nothing. We struck gold near center bar on Saturday. Three of the guys limited out with the smallest perch being 10". The rest of us were close to limits - but we had some 8-9" perch in the bag.

You can travel anywhere on the lake with a 4x4 truck. We did not get stuck once. There is no slush under the snow. The snow is so hard, you mostly just drive on top of it. It is a very bumpy ride. There are many small frozen drifts that remind you that you are off road - often. I lost another mud flap again this year. That is two years in a row now. But, since they were both back tire flaps, it all matches now.

The ice was 30 - 32" thick every where I drilled. I did not put my extension on. My Jiffy has a 36" auger that worked fine - but the transfer case was flush with the top of the snow/ice most of the time before breaking through.

The High Banks access was in awesome shape again this year. No problems at all accessing the lake.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Jigglestick for a few minutes at the bar Saturday night.

There was an open crack by center bar on Saturday that was 8-12" wide. The water was open all day in that crack - even though it was 3 degrees out before the windchill. One of the crew steps into it by accident and was wet up to his thigh. (or, as he puts it - nut high in the crack).

[jigglestick]

allthumbs, I believe that would be nut deep in the crack

glad you caught some jumbo's.

I'm going to go out this afternoon and or tomorrow to see if I can find a nice mess. then back to work, slowly pulling the houses towards shore.

nice to meet you fellas. hope the ride home was good.

we are officially into march madness. the period of ice fishing when light jackets, hole hopping and buckets full of fish are common sights.

30 degrees fore casted for tomorrow and 35 the next day.

bring it on!

[croixeyes]

Allthumbs and Jigglestick,thanks for the report.Heading up there this friday for a few days of perch chasin.See ya on the ice

[Bobberboy]

AllThumbs

Sounds like you guys had a good time

How deep were you fishing for those perch?

[AllThumbs]

we were in 18 feet of water. I put away the vexlar - it was not needed. You could see the bottom and watch them take your bait.

[chris35]

hey allthumbs, was just wondering what size the bigger fish were running in your limits. i remember 5 years ago we would be pulling in 13s and some close to 14s and the last 2 years or so if we wanted to put fish in the bucket they were 10s. still nice fish though. still hoping to get up there sometime this month.

[rapman]

allthumbs we are heading up on the 5th -8th of march going out of high banks for the first time did high banks road go out to center bar and whate side of bar did you fish you said 18 feet so were you on top of bar did you use jiging stuff smallthings like demans with live bait i am going to be pulling my 8 by 16 drop downe willthat make it out there

[rapman]

croixeyes this is rap man i am new to this sight were going up the 5th to the 8th are you going out of high banks and do you think you will fish that airea not sure where to fish 1st time for me

[Buck Snort 2]

Sounds like there will be people on the lake this weekend. I'll be up with a few buddies Thursday - Sunday. First time back to Winnie since 2003. I have GPS and map chip to help out. From reading posts, it looks like Rebel,around Center Bar in 18 feet and a 24-25 foot flat close to Zoomers are the places to look for fish.

Thanks for the info guys and anything else that can be shared would be greatly appreciated. I've been designated 'Da Guide' for this trip so the pressure is on.

[AllThumbs]

I do not have my GPS with me at work, so I am not sure what side of the bar we were on. We were east of the crack I mentioned though.

But, I do want to point out. I first setup my shanty 25 feet from the guys getting all of the fish - in 18ft of water. for 1.5 hours - I did not see a fish. I moved my shanty to within 10 feet of them. Then I started catching the fish. You had to be on the "fish track" to catch them. Other shantys 15 feet away were only getting a fish here and there.

[AllThumbs]

Yes. This was my 6th year fishing. I remember it the same way. This year, I do not recall seeing a fish over 13". most were 10 - 11.5".

[AllThumbs]

As far as the lures we used, it did not seem to matter. I happened to be using a Genz worm - glow in the dark white with the red hook. But, they were really aggressive and biting everything.

[Bryce]

Just now have time to report trip from Fri-Tues. Spent my first part of the trip chasing crappies in the area with good success thanks to an infamous/notorious guide. Even pailed an honestly measured 13"er. In desperate need of a shower, moved to Highbanks Monday afternoon. With a well scrubbed nether region, it was time for perchin. Set on a 22' flat and pounded perch. Only pailed 2 but should have kept alot more after looking at the cleaning pails. Could have easily had my 20 keeping 9"ers. This was out of a hard house set up with no hole hopping except from one end of the house to the other. Used a couple different perch colored jigs and deadstick with a white hook. Small/tiny crappie minnows were the key even when jigging early with only a minnow head. Best bite was 4:30 to dark. Can't wait until next year.

[jigglestick]

great to see you Brycie!

sorry I couldn't make it out monday. still trying to shake this bronchitis stuff. it's getting old.

went out today with the nice weather and it's got me coughing again.

sure was nice out. can't stand any more than two days indoors. I don't care if I was in the hospital, they'd better find a way to wheel me outdoors if only for a little while.

I was wondering how you did in the promised land.

to bad you couldn't find your own way to the holy land, you'd still be cleaning fish

[rapman]

bucksnort i will be up on the 5th i am going two start out by zoomers got a spot or too to try be driving a silver doge ram with a 8by16 ice castle tan color stop buy if you wish i will be driving around in truck with fish trap if nothing in big house good luck

[Buck Snort 2]

rapman,

Thanks for the invite.

One of the guys I'll be with got a new truck that we're taking and I won't know what it looks like unitl they show up in my driveway. I know its a 4 door and we'll be pulling a 4x8 trailer.

I have a black Frabil 2- man flip-over and I don't know what the other 2 guys have for a house.

We will be the 4 guys on the ice that really don't look like they know what they are doing.

Good Luck!

[perch40]

how is the snow , can we get off the mains with truck ?

[jigglestick]

no problem for any 4x4. most areas you can navigate in two wheel drive.

I went out off the end of the big island road and north to the zumers road. no trouble at all. I had to cross the pressure crack, but it was good to go where I crossed it.

with the warm temps, the ice is moving alot. keep an eye open for new cracks or buldges. the buldge on the zumers road was ok to cross yesterday. I see some people stopped when they saw it and turned around. just watch out for cracks that are obviously new.

DO NOT assume you can just dive over any road bank either. I noticed some new cracks in the road banks in places and some of them had dropped like 6 inches.

just use your heads...and eyes

[perch40]

thanks for the info ! staying at little winn this weekend . are the perch still deep . or have they moved in shallow?

[brickpounder]

Looks like quite a few guys are coming up this weekend. A group of three of us are coming up Sun-Tues. Third time up for us this winter. I'm excited to try my new XOG out. On sale at cabelas for$150 plus you get a free ram mount, vehicle adapter, pc adapter and free shipping so you can't go wrong. This device will pay for itself over and over unless it goes down the hole like the last one.